‘A cry for attention’

“Gibson isn’t exactly known for his comedy chops – his directing efforts have hewed more toward flogging and disembowelments – and his problematic, controversial past makes his inclusion mostly feel like a cry for attention.”

His thoughts on the film’s plot itself aren’t much better.

“The various subplots never really arc, feeling more like stitched-together snippets from ’80s sitcoms,” he adds.

Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg both starred in Daddy’s Home (Photo: Paramount Pictures)

‘Audiences will yearn for the subtlety of the Home Alone burglars’

Writing for the San Francisco Gate, Peter Hartlaub is as unenthusiastic about the return of Daddy’s Home, lamenting the misuse of Will Ferrell by making him “a one-note nice guy without the oblivious arrogance, flashes of anger or brazen cluelessness of his best film characters.”

Despite the odd laugh, Hartlaub bemoans the film’s lack of subtlety.

“The film trudges through a series of contrived conflicts, too many of which involve Ferrell’s character creating a disaster while using power tools.

“Some of these bits are kind of funny… Others feel like desperation. Audiences will yearn for the subtlety of the Home Alone burglars.”

‘It needs our ignorance to survive’

Emily Yoshida of Vulture is scathing of Gibson’s inclusion in the film – particularly due to his ultra-masculine role.

“Daddy’s Home 2 is aimed at the most amnesiac, uncritical segment of our population, for whom it would never occur to connect the dots between Gibson’s documented anti-Semitism and abuse of women and his character’s objectification of them here, nor scenes of children wielding firearms with recent/perpetual gun violence.

“It needs our ignorance to survive.”

Gibson has won acclaim for his serious stints as a director – but the comedy wears thin here

She goes further, drawing comparisons between Gibson’s character and Donald Trump.

“One particularly awful thread involves Brad and Dusty’s son beginning to have an interest in girls; Brad’s advice to be considerate of women’s feelings and listen to their problems is treated as a punch line, yet another example of a thing about Brad’s [Will Ferrell] personality that he needs to fix.

“In comes Kurt [Mel Gibson], in his infinite wisdom, more or less paraphrasing our president’s approach to kissing women.”

‘I wished I was re-watching A Bad Moms Christmas’

“I laughed a total of three times during this witless trudge as it went through its predetermined part-two paces… and found myself wishing I was re-watching ‘A Bad Moms Christmas’, another sequel with a very similar premise that nonetheless mines far more mirth and meaning from its sitcom set-up.”

‘Portrays parenting as the death of manhood’

The film’s hyper-masculinity is again picked upon by Slant Magazine critic Keith Watson.

“When future academics look back on the crisis of masculinity in late-2010s America, they could do worse than to watch Sean Anders’ Daddy’s Home films.

“A comedy franchise so steeped in contemporary male insecurity it’s practically begging to be unpacked in a gender studies seminar.”

In particular, Watson is scathing of the film’s portrayal of parenthood.

“The film portrays parenting as the death of manhood, a final surrender to the castrating effects of domesticity.

“Only those who patently refuse the responsibilities of fatherhood… maintain their virility.”

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